At eleven hundred hour to the dot, all of them were already inside the lab, including Chen Yu. We Wuxian insisted that none of them should come in contact with the nanites, since it acted like it was alive, and able to detect life sources around it. Wei Wuxian was afraid that it would accidentally fuse with one of his friends, so he put the nanites in a vial and locked it inside the vacuum chamber with a high powered microscope pointed at it. They all could see from the monitor in front of them anything that the microscope could see and right now, all they could see was millions of nanites that resembled jellyfish with its five long legs. They could see the little claws on those things, and they held onto the blood platelets as if their lives depended on it. Well, in a way, their lives did depend on it. 

Unfortunately, the blood had shown the sign of decay, since they were separated from their owner, and it would be a matter of time before the nanites became inactive, or worse, self detonated. He was willing to bet it was the latter since this was all connected to Kingpin and Qi Rong. Wei Wuxian wondered if Kingpin was actually Qi Rong, but judging from that psycho personality, he would not be able to plan something this elaborate. There must be someone else behind him that orchestrated the whole thing, and he wondered who.

"Do you know how dangerous this is?" Wei Wuxian spoke to the air, but he mostly directed his question to Xie Lian, who looked like he had eaten something bad and now he was feeling the consequence. "If it really is the worst, when the host body is killed, there will be an explosion." Wei Wuxian rapped his fingers on the table and fell into deep thoughts. Surely he had destroyed everything back then…?

"Is there any way to neutralize this… walking time bomb?" Shen Qingqiu asked the question. It would be a disaster if someone out there put nanites bombs inside of random people then killed them.

"First we have to determine if the nanites were indeed a time bomb. Second, It will take some time to make the antidote." 

"Who was crazy enough to make this kind of nanites? This is the first time I have ever seen something this… sophisticated. It's elegant, genius, and deadly at the same time. Wonder who the inventor was. Must be some mad genius." Chen Yu, who specialized in nanotechnology, was in awe, because this kind of tech was not supposed to be available until oh, maybe twenty, thirty years in the future. If they were lucky enough, or if there was someone smart enough to figure out how these nanites were supposed to act, in one way they were repaired, but if there was nothing to repair they would self detonate and destroy everything, including themselves, so no trace would be left and no one else could study and reproduce them. It was a perfect killing machine, and it would make a perfect super soldier.

Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian, who seemed to be embarrassed, and fiddling with his fingers. Then everything clicked in his mind.

"Are you the one who created the nanites?" He asked Wei Wuxian who looked back at him with surprise in his eyes. But then he sheepishly nodded and sighed, followed by audible gasps from their friends.

"Well, it was a side project back when Hanguang Jun was relentlessly pursuing me, and I had to hide for a period of time. I had nothing to do, so I kinda… created the nanites. It was just for fun, I swear to god."

"This is the first time I heard about this. Couldn't you just create a lego building, or learn to cook, or to knit for chrissake?" It was the first time Shen Qingqiu heard about this madness and he was pissed because Wei Wuxian did not tell him about it. "And who in the world would create a perfect killer nanites as their side project because it was fun?" Well, only Wei Wuxian apparently.

"In my defense, I destroyed all the early prototypes… and the notes I made… I think." He was doing the project inside an abandoned lab which had all the tools he needed, but when he was told that the coast was clear, he destroyed everything. Or didn't he? He wasn't so sure because at that time he was lusting for Hanguang Jun, and he was in the middle of a case when suddenly his cover was compromised and he needed to get away as soon as possible. Maybe his head was not in the right place after all. And maybe he left some prototypes and his notes. It was so small. Fuck.

"You said about antidotes. What kind of antidotes could kill all the nanites before they explode? Or worse, being detonated?" Liu Qingge asked Wei Wuxian, as a mechanic, since he was  very interested in machinery. Any machine. Including something this small and deadly.

"Well…" Wei Wuxian looked at Xie Lian, who looked like he was angry.

"No." That's the only word he said. "Surely we can find some other way."

"Anyone please tell us? We're not telepathic, you know." Shen Qingqiu knew those looks, and he knew that the next thing that came out from Wei Wuxian's mouth must be devastating.

"Well, you see, there was actually no cure, per se, but… we can fight the nanites with stronger nanites. Just like the ones we have in our bodies." Wei Wuxian pointed at himself and Xie Lian. 

"But…?" Lan Wangji heard the but in those words.

"But, we did some experiments before, our blood seemed to be… highly toxic to humans. They would go berserk and kill everyone in their close vicinity before they finally kill themselves."

All of the people in the room were suddenly quiet, trying to digest what Wei Wuxian was talking about, until Xie Lian started to explain.

"What Xianxian meant was, if our blood was directly injected to humans, they would… well, have you seen any zombie movies? Just like that."

"Including Wangji?" Hua Cheng asked Xie Lian. He did not want anything to happen to his family, so if there was any risk they had to think about the prevention or the solution.

"Well, Lan Zhan here is a bit different." Wei Wuxian pulled Lan Wangji closer. "He signed a blood contract with me, and his blood and… bodily fluid is what kept me alive before I found the other part of my core." He looked at Lan Wangji softly. "In short, my blood, my soul, my body, recognize his blood, his body, his soul. So, our blood will not have any effect on him."

Hua Cheng looked at Xie Lian and tilted his head in question.

"And what qualifies you as someone who would be recognized by… well, you?" Hua Cheng asked Wei Wuxian but his gaze was on Xie Lian. After what they did last night, and this morning, he sure would want an explanation of how things work, because he was not going to leave Xie Lian ever again. Whatever the cost.

"Well, for me, it was love." Wei Wuxian kissed Lan Wangji's cheek and hugged him. Then Xie Lian slapped Wei Wuxian hard. "Excuse me?" Wei Wuxian glared at Xie Lian.

"It was that dragon tattoo, the sign that he trusts Lan Wangji, and also the sign that… well, a sign of belonging. They have matching tattoos, dragon and phoenix. And also because Lan Wangji is Xianxian's blood contractor." Xie Lian explained it, but he avoided Hua Cheng's gaze. He felt… naked when Hua Cheng looked at him like that, and they did their share of nakedness together just now, he was just still shy about it.

"And what's your sign of belonging, Dianxia?" Hua Cheng whispered in Xie Lian's ear, making him blush. "You know, you have to take responsibility for taking my virginity, and my heart with you." 

Xie Lian covered his face in embarrassment, a gesture that no one ever saw before and they went silent.

Dianxia… and Hua Cheng?

Well, Lan Wangji already saw that many miles ago, and he congratulated Hua Cheng silently by giving him thumbs up, which he replied with a grin.

"I see you already have your phoenix, Dianxia." Hua Cheng continued whispering in Xie Lian's ear. True, he already saw every inch of Xie Lian's body, and there was a phoenix tattoo at his back, a delicate watercolor phoenix, almost identical to the one on Wei Wuxian's thigh, the sign of their true origin. "So, when will I get my dragon?"

Wei Wuxian was so amused, seeing Xie Lian, the cold blooded killer, blushing furiously at Hua Cheng's words. Although no one could hear them, Wei Wuxian had an inclination of what they were talking about. He was glad that finally Xie Lian found someone who understood him and accepted him completely. Just like him and Lan Wangji.

"Back to the antidotes, lovers, you can continue your lovey dovey later." Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes. He could smell the romance from miles away, and he was glad. But now wasn't the time to show their love off.

"Well, we can make vaccines from my blood, and alter the DNA so it would attack the foreign nanites, instead of poisoning the people." Wei Wuxian was back in his thinking mode. "We just need a guinea pig to test it, and I don't wanna hear any of you volunteering for whatever reason." Wei Wuxian looked sharply at Lan Wangji and Hua Cheng. "Especially you both."

"In that case, I think we have the perfect guinea pig, plus we can take revenge too." Shen Qingqiu smiled happily, thinking of the thing he would do to that bitch. "All we need is a plan to capture her alive."